Colum Eastwood became the first leader of the SDLP to address an Ulster Unionist Party conference. He said he wants to see closer co-operation between the two parties which form the official opposition to the Executive at Stormont; the parties have different policies and visions for the future but both want to make Northern Ireland work. UUP leader Mike Nesbitt said: “Maybe next time we can persuade people if you vote Mike, you get Colum. If you vote Colum, you get Mike. If you vote middle ground, you get better.”

Tuesday’s BBC Nolan Show revealed that Prime Minister Theresa May responded to the letter sent by the First and Deputy First ministers in August in which they had sought assurances over the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland. Mrs May stated  “[I] will take full account of the specific interests of the people of Northern Ireland [ahead of upcoming Brexit negotiations] in order to get the best possible deal for all parts of our United Kingdom.” The future of the Irish border, she added, is “an important priority for the UK as a whole”.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he does not trust the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, James Brokenshire, to negotiate on Northern Ireland’s behalf on Brexit after it was revealed the SoS is not a core member of the UK’s cabinet’s Brexit Committee. Mr McGuinness told the BBC, “I don’t believe this government has the best interest of the people of the north of Ireland at heart because these were the same players who brought us to the disaster that was Brexit.” He will join First Minister Arlene Foster in London next week to discuss Brexit with the Prime Minister and other officials.

Former Alliance Party leader David Ford was removed from his role as an elder at his local Presbyterian Church after he spoke out in favour of same-sex marriage. He held the role for nearly 30 years, but was removed after what a spokesperson for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland described as “a breakdown in relationships between him and other members”. Mr Ford had compared the same-sex marriage debate to Northern Ireland’s civil rights campaign of 50 years ago. He described the decision as “a matter of great sadness”.

Findings from a new Amnesty International poll claimed that around three-quarters of people in Northern Ireland support changes to abortion laws. According to the survey, which questioned 1,000 people face-to-face, 72% of respondents supported the right for a woman to have an abortion in cases of incest and rape; 67% said it should be permitted in cases where a fatal foetal abnormality (FFA) is diagnosed. The publishing of the report coincided with the submission of a petition signed with 45,000 names calling on Stormont to change the law.